Liquid fuel burning heating appliances



Dec. 27, 1966 s DEARING LIQUID FUEL BURNING HEATING APPLIANCES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 22, 1965 In/VEn Tofk BERTRAM STANLEY BEARING 1 mm M Dec. 27, 1966 B. s. DEARING 3,294,149

LIQUID FUEL BURNING HEATING APPLIANCES Filed March 22, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2.

United States Patent ()1 3,294,149 LIQUID FUEL BURNENG HEATHNG APPLIANCES Bertram Stanley Bearing, Greenford, England, assignor to Aladdin Industries Limited, Middiesex, England, a British company Filed Mar. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 441,562 Claims priority, application Great Eritain, Mar. 24-, 11964, 12,351/ 64 2 Claims. (61. 158- 83) This invention relates to liquid fuel burning heating appliances and particularly to domestic heating appliances of the radiating type in which an oil burner, for example, of the kindler type is situated in front of a reflector. Such burners normally comprise a wick trough carrying a burner composed of concentric perforated shells surmounted by a wire gauze radiant element and adapted to be fed by a device which keeps the oil in the wick trough at constant level.

In burners of this type the oil level in the wick trough is usually maintained by a chicken feed device in which a fuel reservoir is inverted above the fuel trough and fitted with a spring-loaded valve adapted to open when the reservoir is in position. With such an arrangement the oil level in the wick trough is affected by the relative levels of the latter and the trough into which oil is discharged from the reservoir, and it is essential to level the heater before use in order to ensure satisfactory operation. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved arrangement for feeding oil to the wick trough which helps to minimise the adverse effects of operating the heater when out of level.

Another defect with burners of this type arises from the fact that when the heater is operated for some time at low output and subsequently the control valve is opened suddenly to the .full flame position, a certain amount of excess flame may appear above the gauze of the burner and these flames may persist for some minutes before normal full flame burning conditions are established. This eflect is commonly aggravated by shielding round the burner which is necessary to protect it from draughts. It is, therefore, a further object of the present invention to provide a method of feeding oil to the Wick trough which minimises any excess flame occurring when the burner fuel valve is turned up.

According to the invention in its broadest aspect there is provided a liquid fuel burning appliance having a wick trough divided into two or more sections each containing a separate portion of wick and each fed by a separate fuel pipe, the points at which the trough sections are fed being progressively higher round the trough with the higher feeding points nearer to the fuel reservoir than the lower ones.

When the wick trough is only divided into two sections, it will be apparent that one feeding point is higher than the other and the higher feeding point is nearest to the fuel reservoir. Such an embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the bottom part of a burner and FIG. 2 is an elevation thereof partly in section.

The wick trough is divided into two equal sections 1 and 2, each containing a semi-circular wick portion 3 and 3,294,149 Patented Dec. 27, 1966 4 and each connected at its mid point by a separate pipe 5 and 6 to a common pipe 7 from a fuel control valve (not shown). The pipe entry to section 1 of the trough is higher than that to the section 2 of the trough, and the section 1 of the trough is nearest to the fuel tank or oil reservoir (not shown). When the fuel valve is adjusted to the minimum flow position, no fuel (oil) reaches section 1 of the wick trough fed by the higher feed pipe 5 and burning is maintained by oil fed to the section 2. The vapour from the wick portion 4 does, however, burn in the other half of the burner and the degree of radiance achieved is still substantially uniform around the whole burner.

When the fuel valve is suddenly opened to its fullest extent, which preferably should not allow oil to flow to the burner at more than twice the rate required for full flame operation, oil reaches first the section 2 of the burner supplied by the lower feed pipe 6 and for a time this takes all the additional oil flowing from the valve. The radiance of this half of the burner increases rapidly and excess vapour from the portion 4 of the wick is readily absorbed by the other half of the burner. This raises the temperature of the other half of the burner and reduces the tendency for excess flame to develop when the oil finally reaches this part of the burner. The use of the above described feeding arrangement enables an otherwise conventional burner to be turned up suddenly without fear of excess flame developing above the top of the burner to any dangerous extent.

A further advantage of such an arrangement is that if a heater incorporating this type of burner is operated out of level, in the direction which raises the fuel reservoir above the wick trough, the level in the latter is initially raised only in the section of the Wick trough (in this case section 2), remote from the fuel reservoir and the supply of oil to the other section (1) of the wick trough is further delayed due to the fact that the feed pipe (5) to this half is still higher than the feed pipe (6) to the other section of the trough. In consequence, any excess flame which may develop owing to the operation of the heater tilted in the direction described, is minimised.

I claim:

1. A liquid fuel burning appliance having a fuel reservoir and a wick trough, said trough being divided into two or more sections with each of said sections containing a separate portion of wick and each fed by a separate fuel pipe, the points at which the trough sections are fed being progressively higher around the trough with the higher feeding points nearer to the fuel reservoir than the lower ones.

2. The liquid fuel burning appliance defined in claim 1 wherein said sections are each of semi-circular configuration having adjacent ends each divided by a common wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 739,486 9/1903 Frey 158--86 2,064,081 12/1936 Quart 158-88 2,240,380 4/1941 Sherman 1S888 2,241,327 5/1941 Selby 158-86 X 2,253,056 8/1941 Vllstrand 158-87 FREDERICK KETTERER, Primary Examiner. 

1. A LIQUID FUEL BURNING APPLIANCE HAVING A FUEL RESERVOIR AND A WICK TROUGH, SAID TROUGH BEING DIVIDED INTO TWO OR MORE SECTIONS WITH EACH OF SAID SECTIONS CONTAINING A SEPARATE PORTION OF WICK AND EACH FED BY A SEPARATE FUEL PIPE, THE POINTS AT WHICH THE TROUGH SECTIONS ARE FED BEING PROGRESSIVELY HIGHER AROUND THE TROUGH WITH THE HIGHER FEEDING POINTS NEARER TO THE FUEL RESERVOIR THAN THE LOWER ONES. 